People matter

The usually sleepy climate negotiations were given a wake up alarm call today by a wailing siren outside the conference centre. It was an NGO stunt involving two trucks and two very loud air raid sirens, each enclosed in a locked cage. To turn the sirens off, the police had to cut their way through each metal cage to reach the machinery and arrest the protesters.

The Chairperson of one of the Working Groups was not impressed, suggesting it was an unhelpful ploy. But because the talks are not making much progress, many would argue that an alarm bell loudly blaring is very appropriate to highlight the huge need to make positive progress. All the more urgent because here in Bonn there is just one final day of negotiations
left!

Meanwhile the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) reminded the men and women in suits what these negotiations are really about: not words on a page, but peoples’ lives. At the GCCA press conference this morning, community representatives from Togo, Mexico, Germany and Australia told their stories about how climate change already has a devastating effect on people in their countries.

An interview with some of them can be found here:

We will continue to work hard to ensure our messages are heard loud and clear.

Co-authored by Simon Starling